Case Number 04376

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: SPECIAL EDITION

The Charge

"Are you crying? There's no crying. There's no crying in
baseball."

Opening Statement

"What if at a key moment in the game my uniform bursts open and my
bosoms come flying out?"

Covered generously with sweet, sticky syrup, A League of Their Own is
one of those films that I always seem to stop on when flipping through the
channels. It's also been one of those movies that I've given serious
consideration to purchasing at the store, but I just never got around to buying.
There's something about the movie that appeals to me. It's certainly not the
baseball itself since the game has been portrayed better in many other films. It
could simply be how amazingly attractive Geena Davis is in the movie, but I'll
try not to be too sexist about it, for that would be an insult to the film's
message. So, instead, I'll say that I enjoy this film for the unusual and
charming set of characters portrayed in this picture.

And, if someone's bosoms did happen to pop out, that wouldn't be a bad
thing, would it?

Facts of the Case

"She's also an accomplished coffee maker."

With all the men off fighting World War II, professional men's baseball
doesn't have enough men to sustain the league. In comes chocolate-bar mogul
Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall, director of Runaway Bride, Pretty
Woman, and Beaches) with a radical idea. In the midst of Rosie the
Riveter, Harvey suggests the creation of a professional women's baseball league
while the boys are away. Find some talented women who are easy on the eyes, put
them in cute, skirted uniforms, and let's see if people will show up while the
men are defending the country.

Cantankerous talent scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz, Saturday Night
Live) visits the heartland and rounds up some great prospects: the lovely
Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis, Cutthroat Island, The Long Kiss
Goodnight), who's a great catcher; her cute little sister, Kit Keller (Lori
Petty, Tank Girl), who's a pretty good pitcher; and the capable Marla
Hooch (Megan Cavanagh, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Junior), who can
really hit the ball. Dottie isn't keen on leaving the farm to go and play ball;
she's perfectly content to stay at home, be a good wife, and wait for her
husband, Bob (Bill Pullman, Independence Day), to return from the war.
But Kit really wants the chance, and Ernie will only take her if Dottie goes.
For her sister, Dottie grudgingly accepts.

After rigorous tryouts, four teams are created in the league, and Dottie and
Kit both make the cut and become Rockford Peaches. They quickly make the
acquaintance of their teammates, including Marla, Mae (Madonna, Evita,
Dick Tracy), Doris (Rosie O'Donnell, The Flintstones, Sleepless
in Seattle), Betty "Spaghetti" (Tracy Reiner), and Evelyn (Bitty
Schram, The Pallbearer). Their new coach is Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks,
Road to Perdition, Catch Me If You Can), an alcoholic has-been who
has been given this last chance by Mr. Harvey.

As the league begins, the women play their hearts out, but the tables are
stacked against them. If it isn't the etiquette and poise classes, then it's the
awful skirted uniforms they are forced to wear. Even though they are playing
ball, they must always be ladies first and foremost. And worst of all for the
Peaches, Dugan shows no interest in managing the team. He shows up, but he ends
up sleeping through most of the games.

Unfortunately, as talented and passionate as the women are about the league,
it isn't grabbing the attention of America. Attendance is miserable, and Harvey
is going to have a talk with the other owners about shutting down the league.
Yet Ira Lowenstein (David Strathairn, Sneakers), Harvey's marketing guru,
pleads with him to let the league go on. He understands what the girls are
doing, and he cannot bear to see it shut down so soon. Harvey isn't completely
open to Ira's idea, so Ira goes to the girls and asks them to add a little spice
and flair to the games. And when the girls begin to do this -- splits, fancy
catches, free kisses -- attendance picks up.

With the season winding down, pent-up tensions flair between Dottie and Kit.
Will Dottie be with her team as they go to the World Series? Is Jimmy taking any
more of an interest in his team? Will Kit finally step beyond the shadow of her
older sister?

The Evidence

"Way to go, whatever your name is."

Fact or fiction, where does ALoTO fall? Smack dab in the middle. I'm
not fully certain why the facts were tweaked as they were -- and the bonus
features do not address it either -- but while it does a slight disservice to
those who played and served in the All American Girls Professional Baseball
League, it doesn't do harm to the story. In good Hollywood fashion, the
tweakings make it a better movie. It's not so much that Wrigley (of gum fame)
has been replaced Harvey (of chocolate fame), but it's making our characters
just a little bigger than life. Is Dottie Hinson a Hollywood version of Dottie
Green? Is Jimmy Dugan really meant to be Jimmie Foxx? I'm not a historian so I
can't tell you for certain, but, regardless, ALoTO is a charming,
heartwarming, fun movie to watch.

We've seen tons of baseball movies, The Natural, The Babe,
Field of Dreams, and Bull Durham for starters, but this is the
first to give us a fresh, new perspective on the game: the feminine twist. While
women certainly play the game the same as men (meaning the game of baseball by
(most of) the same rules), they experienced the game in quite a different
fashion. As much a product of the time they played as the chromosomal
composition of their bodies, women see baseball in a completely different light,
and we get to see the game differently because of them.

On the whole, most of our characters are on the thin side. They're not
particularly, ahem, well developed and we know little about them. Normally I
would deride a film for taking such shortcuts in character development, but I
don't believe that's necessary this time. With such an abundance of characters,
I feel we know enough about them to pull us into the story. Marla Hooch is a
great player, but she's a bit on the plain side. It's simple and a little
shallow, yet enough to place her into a few different situations to propel the
story and play some humor off of it. Evelyn Gardner is a perky outfielder who
has trouble throwing to the cut-off person. Because of that, she ends up on the
receiving end of the movie's ultimate line and instant pop-culture classic:
"There's no crying in baseball." Even Madonna, playing a character
only slightly removed from her singing persona, has enough personality to
sustain her part in the picture. And then there's Jon Lovitz in a role written
specifically to his talents. He's steals every scene he's in.

But we do have a few characters who have been given more to work with:
Dottie, Kit, and Jimmy. Of the three, Dottie and Jimmy are the most important to
telling the tale, especially considering how the film is a flashback
recollection from Dottie. Who doesn't love Tom Hanks, playing an irascible man?
He's grouchy, mean-spirited, and crude, but, of course, hiding a heart of gold
just waiting to be melted by the wonderful ladies on his team. And then you have
Geena Davis as the glue in the film. Her character interacts with everyone,
drawing out the best in them, giving them the energy and motivation to succeed.
But all the while she secretly knows that while her teammates see this as a
glorious opportunity, for her, it's just something to pass the time until her
husband comes back home.

And from this is interwoven the film's slight commentary on women's rights
during that time. Well, perhaps not so much "rights" as
"role." Even though the women have come together to form the first
professional female baseball league, the owners are counting on their femininity
to pull in fans. So, it's off to etiquette classes, poise lessons, and beauty
appointments. Instead of practical uniforms, the women are given skirts. During
interviews, the women are shown as subservient, even serving coffee to the
umpires. Women in that time were just getting their first taste of
"power." The country needed them, and women realized that they didn't
have to simply stay at home and pop out babies. They learned that there was far
more to life, even if the men in the country didn't see that for them. It's this
conflict that bubbles lightly underneath the sugar coating. Dottie, exemplifying
the old way, is simply content to pass the time playing some ball, while Kit,
the herald of the new era, yearns for more. It's from these two women we can see
the eventual direction of women's rights. But, fortunately, director Penny
Marshall (Laverne & Shirley) doesn't try too hard to push this point.
She delicately balances all the elements of the film to be educational and
enjoyable.

This is the second release of the film to DVD, and this time it's garnered
the label "Special Edition." The question is does the disc earn such a
weighty title? Unfortunately, I cannot give you any comparisons to that first
disc, so this is solely based on what I've seen here. For your enjoyment,
ALoTO is presented with a solid anamorphic print. You'll have nothing to
quibble about because of the accurate palette of bright colors and rich blacks
coupled with nice sharpness and contrast. There aren't any significant errors or
problems, aside from a little grain at times. The audio track is a bit different
as it's a 4.0 Dolby Digital mix. Still, the dialogue-intensive film sounds very
good, and you'll easily understand everything with clear dialogue and some
minimal directional effects.

The Special Edition release has earned ALoTO the famed two-disc
treatment, but I was disappointed with the amount and depth of bonus materials
presented throughout. * First up on disc one is an audio commentary with
Penny Marshall, Lori Petty, Tracy Reiner, and Megan Cavanagh. While I did learn
a few very interesting morsels (like it really isn't Geena Davis playing the
older Dottie Hinson!), I was a bit bored by the track. I wanted more dish, but,
as is par for the course, the ladies get a bit too involved in watching the film
and forget to talk. And, Megan says very little at all. I would have liked a
little more. It's not bad, but it's quickly forgettable. * Deleted Scenes:
There are 15 scenes included with a total running time of about 36 minutes.
Penny Marshall does a brief intro to set the stage for the scenes, putting them
into context and giving reasons for their deletion. There are some great scenes
in here that rather significantly alter the flow and shape of the film. I think
a few of them should have been left in, but, as Marshall says, that two-hour
runtime was such a barrier at the time. * "Nine Memorable
Innings": This 52-minute documentary examines all aspects of the film from
creation through release. It's a good feature that unfortunately repeats some of
the audio commentary nuggets. (Or is it the commentary that copies the
documentary?) In the end, I also felt here that a little more needed to be
shared about the film and the league.

Rounding out the bonus features are some filmographies, the music video for
Madonna's "This Used to Be My Playground," and trailers for Brian's
Song, A League of Their Own, and The Natural. For a two-disc
set, it's not all that special.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

"And there's Marla Hooch. What a hitter!"

What a cloyingly sweet, improbably formulaic, boring, fictionalized account
of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. This film does not treat
history with dignity, instead twisting the facts to try and make a more
sensational movie. The story of female awakening during the Second World War is
fascinating in and of itself and should be told with truth and integrity.
Instead of making up characters, why not use the real women? Their struggle and
their talents are more than enough to satisfy any audience. Truth is better than
fiction.

Closing Statement

"Boy, that was some good peeing."

I don't own many baseball movies, and the ones I do aren't the typical films
that are firmly rooted in baseball dogma. It would seem that I enjoy my sports
films a little outside the norm, with grand characters and a victorious
underdog. A League of Their Own to me is a wonderful movie. Though the
ratings over at IMDb are lower than most popular baseball films, this is one of
my favorites. I find the based-on-real-life story touching, funny, and moving.
The ending/beginning, with Dottie going to Cooperstown, to me is one of those
perfect endings to a film. I wholeheartedly recommend this film and this disc to
anyone and everyone.

The Verdict

A League of Their Own is hereby found not guilty of corking the bat.
Play ball!